Since the cancellation of “Arrested Development,” Will Arnett has carved out a nice place for himself in the animated world, with scene-stealing voice roles in “Ratatouille,” “Horton Hears a Who” and “Monsters vs. Aliens.” In this month’s “When in Rome,” he gets his face in front of the camera again as one of four unlikely suitors bewitched into pursuing Kristen Bell. Arnett talked with Metro about the state of the TV industry and those pesky “Arrested Development” movie updates — because, as it turns out, he hasn’t seen his latest flick.
How much of your part in “When in Rome” was scripted, and how much did you improvise?
I gotta be honest with you. I don’t know how much made it in the movie because …
You haven’t seen it?
No. It was one of those things where it just never happened up until I just got here from New York last night and couldn’t do it. And now it’s like, “Oh God, now I have to promote it.”
Are you tired of people asking about the “Arrested Development” movie?
We’re happy that people liked it. If anything, we wanted more people to get it. I just say, “Yeah, it’s happening.” I mean, it’s probably more annoying to have to read about it.
Television comedy seems to be making a comeback. How do you see the industry now?
The only people that they have to blame are not the viewers, but the TV business itself. They’ve served us up so much reality TV, which was the crack of television. There’s no lasting value to it. And from what I understand with crack, it’s the same thing.
